OK I took the plunge (75 G low tech potted plants)

got the plants last Thursday, put the fish in the following day. so far so good. didn't mineralize the soil though. the N and P level is stable so far, with NO3 = 5 ppm and PO4 = 0 ppm. the swords and crypts are growing well. here's a snapshot tonight at 5 days after setting up. Hopefully it will "all just work". Let's see when algae will show up. Excuse the gold fish, they will be moved into the pond in my backyard once I got large fish in the tank.

Lighting: 112 W of T5NO. Tank: 75 Gallon.
In the pot: cotton plug at bottom, topped by pool filter sand and top soil from Home Depot (total = ~0.5 in), sprinkled with MiracleGro and RootTab (Seachem), then filled with top soil, and topped with pool filter sand again.
I dosed Excel when I can remember it, but nothing else.

Very nice and simple, you should add a red ech. to break it up a little.

Cheers,
Rusty

thanks. is there a variety that's red even in a non-CO2 tank?

I have Ech. "Oriental" in the tank, b/c I thought their leaves will be red, but actually in the tank only their new leaves are pink, and they turn green when mature. the other Ech. variety is just the regular one that stays green all the time. would be nice to have a red one like you said.

I have Ech. "Oriental" in the tank, b/c I thought their leaves will be red, but actually in the tank only their new leaves are pink, and they turn green when mature. the other Ech. variety is just the regular one that stays green all the time. would be nice to have a red one like you said.

The other option is to plant some smaller reddish crypts around the bases or in smaller pots.

The red rubin as above or a quick google search gave me the red flame ech

or red diamond ech.

Didn't look into the needs of them but echs are usually pretty low maintenence

Tiger lotus are pretty. They come in colours from bright pinky red through to maroon and green. Im told that they are medium light plants but I have loads in my ultra low light tank which are flourishing.

Wow, what an amazing tank - I love it for its "uniqueness", like a garden room with fish!

thanks. that's what I had in mind when I set it up. I still don;t like the arrangement of the pots though, looks a little bit boring to me, but my artistic creativity stop right there for now. Ideas ideas....

I love the lay out actually and cant think of a more artistic layout... other then the suggestion of a touch of red. The juxtaposition of the pots vs. fish is most striking. Had to do a double take and soak it in. That is what excited me most about it. Maybe a mid-sized grower to transition between the two main plants (bronze) or something potted in one of the ones lying on it side like a moss of some sort. Possibly moving one of the larger pots 2nd in from the right and leaving the smaller one farthest right. So much for just the suggestion of red, lol.

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